Gutenberg Press

Have you heard of the Gutenberg Press? The name comes from Johannes Gutenberg, a German scholar who invented the Gutenberg printing press in 1448. That’s quite a contribution to the world of writing and reading.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg). 

He was born in Mainz, a city I have often visited when in Germany. I once visited the Gutenberg Press in Mainz, which I liked so much, since I love books and writing. 

The reason I bring it up is because I want to tell you about Project Gutenberg—an online library which offers over 70,000 free eBooks. I download a book I want to read, then copy and paste it into my apple pages and change it to a font that is easy for me to read. They even have books in languages besides English, for example, Siddartha in German: 

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2499/pg2499.html.

You may find something you'd like to read on the site. It's a gift to have so many free books at your fingertips.

https://www.gutenberg.org/

Writing, Drawing, Learning, Evolving

I have talked a lot about writing in our monthly school lessons. But it seems I have neglected drawing. I just found this about drawing: https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/drawing-is-fastest-most-effective-way-to-learn-according-to-new-research.html 

This article says that drawing is a way to learn better and faster. Research studies confirm this. You can read the article if you want to know more.

I am extrapolating this to higher learning. When you have a problem—try drawing it out. If it is with another person, draw that person. Draw yourself. Draw all aspects of the situation. You don't have to be talented at drawing. The study above says it doesn't matter how well you draw to learn more effectively—just draw.

Besides, drawing helps develop hand/eye coordination. And the more you draw, the better you become at it—learning by doing.

Drawing can also be a meditation. You focus all of your energy in that moment. It is also creative. You and Creation working together as One. You can draw out any problem or situation. Drawing allows you to tune into intuition. To the creative process. To possibly contact deeper and higher places within yourself.

Draw out decisions you are struggling with. Maybe draw all the possible outcomes you can think of.
Draw your emotions. 

Maybe have a drawing group. I am thinking of Britta now, as I write, who is a new student here. Britta teaches painting. To paint really well, it's best if you know how to draw first, at least according to most artists. Certainly this was true for Leonardo da Vinci, who spent time mastering drawing, as did most great artists. This doesn't mean that one must or should draw as part of therapeutic painting, because painting and the use of color also has great benefits. I encourage artistic creation of all kinds.

My beloved Hirth was an artist, a master guitar player, singer/songwriter, and musician. He did these things everyday: He drew. He created art using different media. He played his guitar. He sang. He wrote. He meditated. Everyday. He was very disciplined in this way.

So think about drawing. Think about using your creative powers. Whatever I have written about writing in your lessons, you can probably apply most of it to drawing too.

Much love, Indira
Drawings by Hirth Martinez

Right Spiritual Excitement

Dear Classmates & Students,
I don't know about you, but so much has been going on in my life that I am excited about—spiritually excited. That means an excitement that arises from deep within.

Excitement that comes from events in the world fades quickly. Right spiritual excitement takes us deeper within and genuinely higher.

Spiritual excitement arises from the soul when it connects with Divine Intelligence. The soul is like a seed deep within Mother Earth, meditating—waiting—growing—evolving—towards the Light of Father Sun. Each human being must provide the tiny seed with the nourishment and right conditions it needs to grow and evolve.

I am excited because so many spiritual understandings are blossoming into springtime within me. Winter seems to be the end of summer—but it is only the beginning of spring. The earth needs winters. Even when someone lives in a tropical climate without snow, winter still comes, in the form of monsoons, dust storms, and other forces of nature.

Whatever winters you are in or have gone through, there is an eternal springtime blossoming within you. It is always there; you are just not always aware of it. Your spiritual work today leads you closer and closer to that springtime.

Right now, it is springtime in Austin, Texas, where I am living for the moment. The intense heat and humidity of summer isn’t here yet. There is a wonderful wind singing through the sunshine. Chimes are ringing outside my window. The entire backyard is filled with green and flowers. A scented candle is burning. I like to keep candles burning most all the time. There is something magic about fire. I have written about the magic of fire rituals in your lessons.

I am reading “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy, who was an awakened man. I love the Russian authors. I haven’t read them since high school, so I am reading them all again. Now I can read them from a higher spiritual perspective, which helps me understand why I loved them as a teenager. Anna Karenina is nearly 1,000 pages long.

"Oh no, Father," Kitty objected heatedly..."she does so much good! You can ask anyone you like..."

"Maybe," said the prince...But you see, it's much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it." —(Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy)

We don’t have to read only “spiritual” books to be spiritually entertained and enlightened. Leo Tolstoy offers an in depth look at human nature, the way humans beings observe and react off each other, as well as great spiritual insight. So do many other books that one might not thing of as "spiritual."

It’s important to take off the cloak of so-called spirituality—judgments and ideas of one’s superiority over others. A person can get so locked into their ideas that they can’t see they are living in a false idea of themselves as a “spiritual” being. You might remember this from your lessons,  if you have gotten to this lesson:

What is this thing called spirituality, anyway? Spirituality is not about beliefs and ideas. Spirituality is about being absolutely present in your life. When you are absolutely present in your life, your life is spiritual and you are a spiritual being. Then intuition speaks to you crystal clear. 

Spirituality is not different from this earth you walk upon. It is not something else out there. It is not different from you. It is not separate from God. Spirituality is not something you attain. Anything that can be attained can be lost.

So try to notice where you feel spiritually superior or inferior to others. When you find any of these feelings inside you, that is a place within you that needs work. And humility.

Wishing you all a spiritually evolving day with lots of good nutrients, pure water, and sunshine for your soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhN3Y8aSJyI

Commune With Your Own Dear Soul!

Good Morning My Dears,
Thought I'd stop by & commune. With the angels. With you. With my own Soul. Have you ever thought of communing with your Soul? Have you ever thought that your soul needs communing with? Do you know what it means to commune? The dictionaries tell us:

1. To converse or talk together, usually with profound intensity, intimacy, etc.; interchange thoughts or feelings. to be in intimate communication or rapport: to commune with nature.‎
2. The sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level.

Your own dear soul yearns to commune with you. It
calls to you from within, 'Come to me, nurture me, give to me, teach me, learn from me, yearn for me, as I yearn for you, let me be your dearest love, as I am yours, be with me, as I am always with you.'

Yes! Your own dear soul yearns for you. It is like a flower in a garden that needs you to nurture it, quench its thirst, talk to it, affirm its beauty and worth. The soul begins as a seed that God or the Universe plants inside you. This is the way of the Universe. It is how your soul begins, many lifetimes ago. For some, for those who have daily watered and attended to this seed, it begins to sprout, a tiny green shoot, full of all the potential of Life -- real Life. This is the life which the great Teacher Jesus told us that he came here to give us: Life . . . and Life more abundantly! Why would he need to give us life, if we already had it? That is a good question for you to ask, to ponder, to find the answer that resonates deep within you.

I will leave you with this question for now. I am due to write a new lesson soon. It will be Lesson 100. This is the start of that lesson. For those of you who have far to go before you reach that lesson, you now have the above question to ponder, to find where it leads you. You see where writing has led me? Had I not taken the time to commune here, none of these words would exist right now. I could continue writing about the soul now, but then I'd have pages and page before long--I'd have a whole new lesson!

Keep coming back. There is always more to learn, another way to evolve in the school of angels, so that we stop revolving on the wheel of karma. We learn how to love and nurture our own dear soul, so that it can love and nurture us in return. We learn how to turn, like a bright green vine, away from the darkness, to the light of the sun that is always shining. All we must do is turn towards it. We must open our heart wide, like an open window, and let the Light in. Then your own dear soul will be illuminated with joy. It will be filled with gratitude because you have SEEN it.

Love as always,
your grateful teacher and classmate

To understand yourself, first pay attention

You might try journaling as a way to concentrate your attention. One small idea can expand and evolve to  teach and guide you … when you write with the intention to understand yourself, not to criticize and condemn others, which only supports your wrong and negative views.

When you write with anger and revenge in mind, the physical act of concentrating your energy in a dark contracted way will increase these feelings.

When you write with the intention to let your heart open to Understanding, then the Light can shine through your mind, through your writing, to heal and enlighten you.

Why is this so? Because the true Teacher is within you. Throughout time, sages, saints, poets, and musicians have taught this simple truth.

Writing and more...

Dearest Students, I like to think we are growing and evolving together, as one. One of the features of my work, as you know, is that so-called "enlightenment" is not a one-time static explosion that remains constant forever — meaning you never have to do anymore work on yourself. That has been the idea perpetuated by some new-age gurus, many of whom were eventually exposed to be living in ways that violated certain laws as well as moral ethics. That doesn't make everything such a spiritual teacher said necessarily invalid, but it does call into question the definition of enlightenment.

Another of my favorite books...

...written for young people, but good for all people....The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, first published in 1922. It's about becoming real. We all need help with that!

One of my favorite authors...

“In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there's no danger that we will confuse God's work with our own, or God's glory with our own.”
   
― Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

Thoreau

Do you know of Henry David Thoreau, (1817–1862) an American writer, poet, philosopher? His most famous book is "On Walden Pond". Here are some beautiful passages from his book, "Simplicty," which I like very much. He spent most of his time living alone on Walden Pond. Doesn't he have beautiful eyes, so open and enlightened, which I think he was.

Melt the hardness of the mind

Welcome to Your Open Classroom. This is where you can benefit both yourself and serve others by making the effort to come out of your closet and write something. Yes, it takes time, and writing is a valuable exercise, especially when you share it with others. Going against what the mind tells you is a way to come into the softness of your heart, and melt the hardness of the mind. The more you show up for Truth, the more Truth shows up for you. This is universal law.

This is a picture of me and my cousin, Darlene, who is also one of your classmates. This was taken at the East Coast Retreat a couple of years ago. Look how beautiful it is outside the window, the green trees and the sun shining through. All of us were at the retreat melting the hardness of the mind and coming into the softness of the heart.

Happiness

"To be happy, to possess eternal life, to be in God, to be saved -- all these are the same. All alike mean the solution to the problem, the aim of existence. And happiness is cumulative, as misery may be. An eternal growth is an unchangeable peace, an ever more profound depth of understanding, a possession constantly more intense and more spiritual with the joy of heaven -- this is happiness. Happiness has no limits." - Amiel
  
This morning I feel like writing about the above quote from the Swiss philosopher, poet, and critic, Henri Frédéric Amiel, who lived from 1821 to 1881. I am writing for my own benefit, using our open classroom to increase my understanding, which is making right use of the classroom. What is more important than spiritual understanding? As far as I know, nothing. By writing about a quote of spiritual Truth, I am exercising my spiritual mind. I am reaching higher and asking God and angels to help me understand. I am putting Truth first. When we put Truth first, Truth puts us first.

Below the line below :) are the rest of my early morning musings, although I am just now posting it. I awake very early, doing my meditations, meditative writings, which help take me within and prepare me for the day.

The Peace of Wild Things

The poet Wendell Berry wrote this. It's a good reminder. Nature is a great healing force. As I wrote the words here for you (writing is a teacher) I got to have another experience of them. I love the line about the day-blind stars waiting for their light. May you also rest in the grace of Mother Earth and know that you are free.

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

A favorite author

Author of A Wrinkle in Time, for young people, but also good for people of any age. She used the theory of Quantum Mechanics, which I write about in the latest lesson, #75, Living in Oneness. I love her books!

New Student Enthusiasm!!!

Here is an email I just received from a new student, who begins her lessons January 8. It is nice to know that a new student is going through the archives here in Your Open Classroom and that the constant effort I put into the classroom is serving someone in a positive way. Be sure to welcome any new students, should they stop by to say hello! (This one will recognize herself when she sees herself here.) If she can keep up this same level of enthusiasm she will reap many benefits.

Email:   

"Thank you for sending the introduction. I am so eager to receive your Angel Lessons! Also, I visit the Classroom practically every day. I am reading myself through all the Messages/Lessons starting 2009...there is such a concentration of angel wisdom, so much to meditate about, that I only manage to advance very slowly. Thank you for being there for me!"

Nice to know...

Today I had this email from a student who'd had trouble opening her lesson. I sent her it again and everything is fine. She wrote this to me after: "It is so nice to know, you are on the other side of the words you send......"

and I wrote back to her that it is also nice to know that she is on the other end of what I write.

That is what is special about our school and the lessons. You are not reading a book written by someone you have no possibility of ever seeing or having a personal communication with. I love knowing each of you are there, and I mean it when I say I think about each and everyone of you as I write and rewrite the lessons and send them off to you. Sometimes I am thinking about one of you in particular when I write something. Thanks for being there!

This picture is of baby owls with a stuffed toy owl "mother"--after they lost their mother, they needed a new mother to cuddle with and feel safe. So they were given this soft new mother owl. May you all feel just as safe and protected in the arms of the angels.  Your devoted teacher

The hard way or the soft way

Just dropping in to say hello to everyone. I do stop by often, everyday when I can, to visit. I have been reading older posts and finding them rewarding and good reminders of the Truth within. I am so in gratitude to have this place, the open classroom, that is always here. When i am going through some difficulty, I especially like to stop by. I have been choosing a post at random from the archives, and I find it somehow answer whatever question I have and always gives me encouragement and increases understanding.

I have been experiencing for myself that I have to show up and do the work. Sometimes it is not easy for me to keep my eye on the inner work, but it is always rewarding when I do. There is so much in each lesson, I can hardly take it all in. I find when I go back and read an old lesson again, that it is always new. I always see how much I missed. It is like reading a new lesson. So thanks, Indira, thanks classmates, thanks angels. I am overflowing with gratitude today. This school was my first big step into spirituality and it has changed my life. 

I am realizing that this person I call "me" is not the center of the universe. Something ELSE is. Something called Truth or God or Energy. This Energy is directing my life. The more I get out of the way, the more the Energy can show me the Way. It is clear and simple, but not for the ego. The ego always chooses the hard way. The ego is the hard way! The heart is the soft way, the clear and simple way. My ego likes the hard way--it likes to fight and struggle, compete, and come out on top--to win. But the winning of the ego is temporary. And I am beginning to see that it is always painful. When the ego wins, what is it really sitting on top of? A garbage heap. As I have read in my lessons -- when the ego wins, I lose. 

So my recent prayer is that the ego loses. And the heart wins.

I liked the recent lesson on Money. It was very helpful in practical as well as spiritual ways.

Thank you! And here is a starry night, a universe of love, for all of you.

Email to client...

Dear Students, Today I am posting an email I sent to one of my female clients, who has just separated from her husband. I have changed identifying information, to respect confidentiality. I think by reading it, you can learn a great deal. I have kept the words to her soft, so they can be heard. She is not a student, so she does not have the same level of understanding that students achieve over time, but she is a very long term client. Here is the email:

Dearest -----

You have made the physical separation from your husband, now you must make the psychological separation, which can only happen inside you. For so long you have defined yourself in relation to your husband. Over time, that became a definition that was painful to you, and you sought to remove yourself from that pain.

Stay clear that the ego will seek to continue to keep you in pain. That is what ego does. Ego is a pain machine.

Watch the issues of boundaries. Instead of constantly saying that he is overstepping your boundaries, simply, clearly state what you want. To yourself. To him. I’d just leave out the word boundaries, if you can.

Boundaries can be an offensive and defensive word. You needed to use it when you were making your move and getting stronger. Now you can just be an adult and clearly state - "This is what I want. This is what I choose. This is what I am doing. I do not want that. I do not choose that. Not right now, please. Maybe later. NO. Yes."

These are all good statements for you to consider.  You can just say, no. You can say, not now. You can say, no, thank you. You can say, I don’t want to. You can say, Can you please tell me what you mean, because I don’t understand. You can say, yes. You can say, I need time to think about that. You can say, I can’t answer that right now. You can say, I am feeling uncomfortable and need to be with my own energy right now, so I can deal with my feelings.

These are good “I” statements. You will find your own, the more you turn within.

“I” statements will help you go within to find out what you are feeling and thinking. “I” statements tend to be less combative, less offensive, less defensive, less confusing.

Keep in mind, you both love your children. So far your husband has been supportive of your move, providing  for you financially. Do your best to stay with what is, not go into fear. Fear is the greatest weapon of control. Don’t forget that.

People say all kinds of things when they feel attacked and afraid. Do your best not to give power to what people say when they are feeling defensive, afraid, attacked. Try to just see. Really see. Do your best not to react.

Right now, today, everything is okay. Now you have a chance to look at the pain that is within you. When your husband was always there, it was easy to see that your pain was caused by your interaction with him. When he is not there, you have the beautiful opportunity to advance spiritually by taking full responsibility for your own pain — seeing it.

As the angels say, “what you are not aware of controls you. When you become aware of something, it begins to lose control over you.”

The problem is where the pain is. This is a universal truth.

This is a beautiful time for you, an opportunity for expansion and freedom.

I trust that you and your husband will be able to work everything out in a way that serves both of you and your family. Old patterns are being broken. Ego will resist that. Be patient, loving, and kind with yourselves and each other as you work to overcome the feelings of fear, pain, and limitation. You can do it! There is no enemy.

What is beautiful to remember is that even as human beings fight against each other, each of you has an angel who holds you in the light. Angels always work together. When you can attune to your angel, you are attuning to the angel of everyone. This is because angels serve only God’s will, and so angels exist in harmony, even while we exist in conflict.

Love,
Indira

Morning in Amish Country

This morning there is time for quiet inner contemplation and peppermint tea with honey. I hope wherever you are that you are also taking time for inner contemplation. You can do this in so many ways. Walking. Writing. Meditation. Or just being absolutely aware as you go throughout your day. Being alone in the stillness is one of the best ways to discover more about yourself. I am always glad when I have the chance to be absolutely alone, especially when that aloneness is nature. Just as we must feed out physical body with nurturing food, so we must we feed out soul with beauty. I love being out here in Amish Country in Western New York State.

Angel Writing

As you know, my connection with the angels began during a near-death experience. Soon after this incident, I sat down at my typewriter to do some writing. I didn't own a computer in those days. I have always written: poems, stories, letters, and some journaling, but I was shocked to find myself writing messages from angels! It wasn't my intention to connect with the angels through writing; it just happened.

That was in 1981. Since that time, I have written hundreds of pages of angel writing, in addition to poetry, stories, and even a murder mystery! You never do know what might happen if you show up and make yourself available to write. So give it a try! Give it lots of tries! One reason Your Open Classroom exists is to give you a place to show up and express yourself. I happen to love writing here--each time I show up here and write, I learn and grow in new ways. I feel connected to each of you. I feel connected to the angels. I feel uplifted and expanded. I know that many of you are silent observers here, and that's fine. This your classroom, to do what you will. I assure you that the more effort you out into your school, the more benefits you will reap.

First day of Summer

Recently our daily email messages have been about writing. For those of you who make the effort to show up here in Your Open Classroom, I will be posting some of my personal experiences with writing. As you all know, writing is what I do. It is one of the avenues through which the angels express themselves. As I have said many times, angels speak with the voice of God. And so does Intuition. So does our own. heart. It's not that we have angels speaking one language, God another, and our own hearts and intuition yet another! No! Then we'd have the Tower of Babylon! 

Angels speak the language of love. When you take the time to write, you open yourself to allow the loving voices of the angels to speak through you. This is what I do when I show up and write. I cannot begin to tell you the marvelous inner and outer transformations that have occurred in my life as a result of simply showing up and writing. Stay tuned for more, both here and in your daily messages. 

Today is the first day of Summer, so enjoy!